The study deals with different representations of the character of old women in Czech literature of the second half of the nineteenth century. It focuses mainly on three short stories which show exceptof the literary image of old age also the proof of the vertical stratification of Czech literature of the end of the nineteenth century. The study also shows the literary controversy related to literary movements and intertextual relations. The latest short story which the study refers to is called Babiččin pohřeb and was written by Rudolf Karel Zahrádka. It has a specific position in the context of thinking about the use of motifs associated with old age: not only could it be characterized as a subversive text due to the intertextual passages referring to Babička by Božena Němcová, but it can be also identified as a proof of the penetration of the modernistic tendency in Czech literature.